Pictures in the snow
by Sesamina
Summary: Grace takes Wayne to her hometown for the first time. Takes place before the "I don't have a sister" comment and is my way to explain it.
1. Driving

**A/N:** Like always. Something bothered me, here's my explanation.

**Disclaimer:** Yay! Sure, gimme! What….no? Damn.

**Pictures in the snow**

„Wow. What's that?" He was drawing silly lines and stick figures on the fogged window of his passenger side like a bored child, when Grace drove her Grand Cherokee out of Des Moines International airport. Driving onto Interstate 235 first and onto Interstate 80 just out of Des Moines, in the direction of their destination. Fifty miles down the road something had caught his attention not that far off the street. Hence the question.

„Powdered sugar." She couldn't hide the smug smirk, knowing exactly it wasn't the beautiful white snow covering every surface he meant.

Tongue in cheek, he turned his head towards her, saw her grinning and raised one dark eyebrow. "You've been working with Cho way too long. But you have to work on your poker face."

She laughed openly at that. Stopping at a red light she turned to him, her right hand left the steering wheel to stroke through the soft spikes at the nape of his neck. Pulling till their heads were within an inch of each other, she smiled a sweet light kiss on his lips. No tongue, no open clashing mouths, just a quick loving peck.

Funny enough the light had turned green unnoticed by both of them and nothing happened. First he didn't notice, but after a while of Grace's soft fingers still holding his head in place something was missing. Nothing bad, mind you. But still, it was nagging at his brain. It took a few seconds till he had figured it out completely.

It was quiet.

He checked the mirror on his side twice, looked around to the back of the car and shook his head in astonishment. No car. No one honking their impatience. It was only then, that Grace saw the green light and just so managed to get her car in gear before it could turn back to yellow and ultimately to red.

They were driving in silence, the stereo was playing Billy Talent's newest album in the background, when Grace remembered his question.

She wiggled a little in her seat, getting more comfortable. Although it was her Jeep, it didn't feel like it anymore. Sure, after weeks of fixing it, she should be real proud. Mostly doing all the repair work herself, but the way it got destroyed, the memories of that day – the sneaky little bastard nearly killing her man. And after that the sicko almost splattered her brain all over her precious sport seats.

Brrr. That was nine months ago and it still sent shivers down her spine.

Back to the present. With definitely better company. She slowed the car and directed it straight to the building her boyfriend was asking about earlier. To this point she hadn't answered him. He didn't seem to mind, so engrossed was he by the sign in front of the building. He couldn't really believe it.

Driving onto the parking lot you could feel the snow crunch under the heavy tires. Making her sigh inwardly, she loved the sound of it. The SUV stopped at a parking space directly outside of big wooden double doors, Grace killed the engine but didn't move to get out, instead she made a little "tada" motion with her hands.

"This," she gestured to the double door entrance, "is the best burger place in the universe." Satisfied with the reaction of her awed looking neighbor, she patted his left thigh to get his attention.

"Come on, their cheeseburgers are to die for." Her hand wandered up to caress his stomach through his sweater. "You could use a few pounds."

Wayne's head turned around fast. Huh? Was his hearing defective? Gain weight? Wasn't Grace always telling him to eat healthier, bringing carrots instead of burgers? This was weird.

And it showed on his face. Brows crinkled, lines were forming on his forehead, blue eyes searching green ones for confirmation. Her right hand wandered to his left, caress turning into light tugging.

"Don't look at me like that." When he wouldn't look away or even try to make a move she got worried. "We don't have to, if you don't-"

He used the fingers of his right hand to shush her as his left hand was still tightly wrapped in hers. His features softened and his lips curved into a bright smile. "I love you."

Hand in hand they walked the short distance across the white fluffy material. Just before entering the place Grace scooped up a handful of snow attempting to throw it at Wayne but missing due to him being faster at ducking than she thought. Still looked pretty funny with their hands clasped together.

Laughing the pair entered the beautiful house. Red bricks, two stories, wide green trimmed windows. It looked nothing like a simple burger place. Too classy on the outside. On the inside it looked like burger place. Nice and cozy.

They stomped their boots on the ground removing the few cold flakes they brought from the outside.

To the left of the big green door they found a neat little booth and sat down. Ordering their burgers, with onion rings, only took a minute. Eating all the stuff took a few minutes longer.

Back on the road they only had twenty five more miles to go. Twenty five miles till he ventured into the town she had grown up in. Twenty five miles till he saw the house she spent all her life in. He would probably meet a few people she cares for. School friends, neighbors, shop owners maybe. It would be like delving into her past. Without one important thing. Her family.


	2. Exira

**Exira**

Exira. That's what the sign said.

He must have voiced the name when he read it, because Grace was talking about it. How the town was named after the daughter of some judge from Ohio, that it was indeed a farming town, that she loves building a snowman in their backyard every year, that the town is small, yes, but despite that has an elementary school and a high school and the school colors where green and white, which was weird because the curtains in her apartment had these exact colors now, at the moment Exira was the home for 768 inhabitants and this tree over there was the very one where her youngest brother, who was still older than her, drove her first car against.

Just nervous babbling.

He let her talk. Letting her anxiousness of having him in her home soon flow away with her speech. Staying silent he watched her with a light loving smile.

A few seconds later she stopped listing things crossing her mind and took a deep breath. Her hands fell from the steering wheel and onto her thighs, slowly rubbing away her nervousness. Only then had Rigsby noticed they had come to a stop in front of a nice white two-story house. He kept smiling at her, took her right hand away from her upper leg and kissed it. Feathery light.

She didn't know why she was feeling like that. She had absolutely nothing to worry about. They were alone, her parents were on vacation, hence Grace's idea of spending a few snow filled fire-place-warmed days up here. Her brothers had to work or take care of their own families. Absolutely no one would disturb them.

So no actual reason for her current behavior. Right? Only her boyfriend in her parents' house.

"We're here." Slightly tugging at his hand, nodding her head in the direction of the entrance.

* * *

After they brought their luggage in, Grace showed Rigsby around. The living room with the huge fire place, the kitchen – walking once around the kitchen island, her old room, which still looked a lot like it did ten years ago. She explained to him that after her brothers were out of the house the rooms of the boys were made into a study for her mom, a football room for her dad and a guest room. They hadn't yet decided what to do with hers, so her old bed and closet would probably stay in here forever.

The day was nearly over, so they decided to make a fire and just relax and talk on the couch. Grace started to get the fire going when Wayne walked around a little. Looking curious at this and that, like everyone would if being in a strange place for the first time. Till he stopped moving his feet and just observed the back wall of the pretty large living room.

"Now I know where you've got that from."

She looked up from the fire place, turning her head to see what he meant. Eyebrows up in curiosity. "Got what?"

He smiled looking her way. "The pictures. There are nearly as much picture frames in your apartment." The more he inspected all of the photos the more people he didn't recognize. Rows over uncoordinated rows of photos.

Grace had the fire going in minutes. Standing up she brushed her hands on her jeans clad thighs and softly padded over to him. Not talking, only watching him looking at one picture after another. Like he did in her apartment when he spend his first afternoon there. And first night. And morning. Sometimes he would snort at a ridiculous scene or smile endearingly when something was cute. Other times he just plain stared, mostly at photos that showed her happily laughing. At some shots he would turn his head to the side and crease his forehead. Wondering? Disapproving? Only curious? Before she could decide he was already looking at the next frame. First he got that "aw, cute" look, but after a while he looked a bit sorry.

She wanted to know what made this facial expression appear on his face and stood beside him, arms crossed and shoulders touching, seeing herself in the picture many years ago. She had a huge smile on her face despite her left arm being bandaged.

She chuckled at the memory. "I was eight, it was winter and we wanted to ice skate on that frozen lake we came by earlier. My brothers could skate of course, with them being older. I couldn't. And I couldn't stop so I drove full speed into a snow pile. I didn't know that under the pile was some old tree trunk."

Right beside that one was a very new picture, the little date in the left corner told him that. A young boy, maybe five years old. Squinting a little he recognized him from a frame in her apartment but never asked who it was.

"Who's that?" Now's a good time as any.

"My youngest nephew, Colin." She giggled at some long ago thought.

"What's so funny about him?" He asked, clearly wanting to know every little piece about her family and past she was willing to give. She shook her head still smiling.

"Just remembered something my grandmother said."

He arched his eyebrows expectantly.

A sigh. A turn on the heel. A few steps into the hall. She motioned him to follow and waited in front of yet another few rows of pictures. Grace pointed one finger at a small red framed photograph.

"That's my brother Matthew. You know, the second oldest, ten years older than me, is trying to set me up, yada, yada, yada." During this little listing Rigsby watched her hands circle around air like talking about that particular brother is a tedious but necessary task. He's family after all. He had nodded his approval of her tellings, recognizing this face from some of her family pictures in Sacramento.

"The blonde beside him is his wife Helen." Her index finger wandered over to a smiling woman, Wayne was still intently listening.

"This scene was taken roughly a year ago in our backyard."

Getting nearer and he couldn't really say, he hadn't been in the backyard yet. And there was a lot of snow, the two people smiling at them were well wrapped up in thick winter clothes.

"Now Helen is five months pregnant. With a boy." Grace started grinning and pointed to a larger older dark wooden frame. The picture was black and white, the woman in it bore a striking resemblance to the woman standing next to Wayne right now. He was astounded. They had the same smile, the same lips, same eyes, nearly the same build – only the hair was darker.

"I look a lot like her, except for the hair. My grandmother, my mother's side, she was twenty-two at the time it was taken." Turning towards her boyfriend she looked into these beautiful azure blue eyes and retold the story.

"One day after my second nephew was born, I was nineteen, my grandmother spoke to me over a cup of coffee. We were sitting in the kitchen and I was eating cookies. And she said I should just wait and see, but I'll be the first one to grant my parents a granddaughter. Till today it holds true. Jerry's got three boys, Matt's first son is on the way."

Rigsby chuckled at the pretty smug look on his girlfriends face.


	3. Family

**A/N:** Huh, turned out really short. Weird.

**Disclaimer:** You'd make my day, if someone would call Bruno Heller and tell him it's all mine.

**Family**

The fire was slowly dying down. Neither of them wanted to leave the position they were in. Half sitting, half laying on the dark brown couch, they had cuddled deep into each other. A thick fluffy quilt covering the both of them kept the lovers warm.

The flames were getting smaller, giving less and less heat. No one seemed to be bothered by that fact.

Her head lay comfy on his shoulder, her hands on his shirt covered chest, still feeling the warmth he emitted.

One of his hands held her close at the waist, under the blanket. The other couldn't decide which was its favorite place, slowly sneaking into Grace's silken hair, then dusting over her back – ultimately claiming her left shoulder as its residence.

Although they were completely alone in the house their voices were dimmed down to a hushed whisper. As if anything louder would destroy the magic bubble they created for themselves.

It was mostly Grace talking at the moment. Rigsby had pointed at almost every picture he could find and wanted to know who was on it. And if there was a story behind it would she mind telling him?

One after another he met every member of her family.

Starting with Jeremy, her oldest brother, who reminded her a little of Patrick Jane with all his embarrassing questions. But despite that he was her favorite, always encouraging and supporting her and even kicking her ass when she needed to come back down to earth. Jerry was married to the beautiful and joyous Sharona. Grace obviously adored her sister in law and saw her more as a sister and best friend than merely the wife of her brother. Sharona was always smiling and filling every room with so much warmth. Grace idolized their relationship, always wanting what they had. Unconditional love, being each others best friends, being so in synch that you can finish each others sentences, talk without words. Having three wonderful kids with their father's eyes and their mother's smile.

New photo, new family member.

Her father during football training sessions. Her aunt riding a horse. One of her cousins sleeping on the couch, drooling.

Matthew, her second brother, wasn't much of a topic today. Every time she mentioned him in prior conversations there was an annoyed groan precluding the talk. But Wayne already new that Matt was also happily married. Pretty newly wed at that, and strongly intent on making his sister exactly that, too. With a never ending supply of single male friends. From high school, college, work, church. Like he'd run a secret lab with instant single man powder. Just add water.

A row of pictures showing her mother gardening. Her grandparent's anniversary. Herself and a friend during summer vacation.

Grace building a snowman. A funny shot of a cat's nose sniffing the camera lens. Two of her uncles standing by the barbeque grill with beer in their hands deeply discussing something.

Her last brother, Dylan. Youngest of the bunch, till Grace decided to make an appearance. She loved him dearly, but still couldn't get over him ruining her first car. The picture showed them both standing on either site of the car, grinning like cheshire cats. He had helped her building it. Turning a piece of junk into a fantastic convertible – that lasted four freaking months.

***********

The next day found them still asleep on the couch, which wasn't as comfy as previously thought when you had spent the whole night on it in some strange positions.

One really, really long hot shower and a strong cup of coffee later and the couple was on their way through town. They were walking hand in hand through the deep winter wonder land with Grace showing him all the fun places. It was a trip down memory lane, taking her old route to school, to the pond where she learned to skate and swim and back to her parent's house because they were freezing.

Back inside his gorgeous excited girlfriend didn't give him much time to get too comfortable. She was on a mission, fulfilling tradition she said.

So in no time they were outside in the backyard building a large snowman. Wayne had to give up his scarf for it, Grace gave her gloves willingly. In the end both had the feeling that more snow ended up being shoved down several parts of their bodies than on the snowman. None of them seemed to mind.

Grace had brought her camera. For taking traditional backyard photos. She had set the timer and two bright red laughing faces were waiting for the flashlight to come.

***********

They stood in front oft the two way mirror, silently watching the interrogation. The woman on the other side didn't know both the agents were following her every word. After a while Grace didn't want to hear anything more. Still without saying a single word she leaned slightly forward switching the sound system off with a flick of her right hand.

For a moment it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Turning to Rigsby, Grace said the first thing entering her mind.

"I don't have a sister."

He nodded. Just one light shake of his head.

"Yeah, I didn't remember any."


End file.
